Should we be worried?

So, I'm now two weeks in, and am enjoying learning and researching all about how digestion works and how the body uses its fuel. As well as eating and enjoying foods that a short time ago I would not have touched with a barge pole!

With my overall increase in meat, fish, and dairy now I'm a bit concerned about all the nasties that I will be ingesting alongside it:

Soy fed cattle, and synthetic growth hormones, no sunlight, and crowded conditions, pus in milk, hormones to make cattle think they are pregnant... There are six different kinds of steroid hormones that are currently approved by FDA for use in food production in the US: estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, zeranol, trenbolone acetate, and melengestrol acetate.

Now, if I could eat from pastured, organic, meat-fish-dairy sources at every meal I would be happy to do so. But unfortunately I live in a place that doesn't have farmers markets or organic shops. I can't go direct to farmers, or raise the animals myself... Language barriers compound any questions that I might have, even if I were able to ask the farmer anyway... So, I am basically having to eat inferior sources that have the possibility of being contaminated, as well as animals raised in inhumane conditions.

Is anyone else worried about their increased ingestion of these things, or do most of you manage to source good quality, organic, pastured meat-fish-dairy?

Should I (we) be 'worried'?

One of the most common and controversial ways to force greater milk production is to inject them with rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone), a genetically engineered artificial growth hormone. Developed and manufactured under the brand names Posalic® by Monsanto (Who'd of thought, eh!)

*rBGH milk is contaminated by pus, due to the mastitis commonly induced by rBGH, and antibiotics used to treat the mastitis.

*rBGH milk is chemically, and nutritionally different than natural milk.

*Milk from cows injected with rBGH is contaminated with the hormone, traces of which are absorbed through the gut into the blood.

*rBGH milk is supercharged with high levels of a natural growth factor (IGF-1), which is readily absorbed through the gut.

*Excess levels of IGF-1 have been incriminated as a cause of breast, colon, and prostate cancers. IGF-1 blocks natural defense mechanisms against early submicroscopic cancers.

*rBGH factory farms pose a major threat to the viability of small dairy farms.

*rBGH enriches Monsanto, while posing dangers, without any benefits, to consumers, especially in view of the current national surplus of milk.

Of still greater concern, based on 37 published scientific studies as detailed in the book, excess levels of IGF-1 in rBGH milk pose major risks of breast, colon and prostate cancers.

Those are valid concerns. However, conventional non-meat foods have lots of crap dumped on them too. You don't have to eat lots of meat on primal. Do the best you can with both meat and veg. You don't say where you are, so that's about the best I can do.

I am soooo lucky. Where I live, Sacramento, CA, there are many many healthy food sources.

I design websites and blogs for a living. If you would like a blog or website designed by someone who understands Primal, see my web page.

Primal Blueprint Explorer My blog for people who are not into the Grok thing. Since starting the blog, I have moved close to being Archevore instead of Primal. But Mark's Daily Apple is still the best source of information about living an ancestral lifestyle.

Buy a farm and grow your own food. Organic food are contaminated by non-organic food all the time (same container, mislabeling etc). Don't forget, most major brand milk containers are all plastic. Sometimes, bits of the plastic at the top of the cap break off and fall into the milk.

Your profile shows you are located in Thailand. I used to live in the Phillippines and I know that a lot of the farm land is quite similar in Thailand. We did not have cows roaming around in the Phillippines and most of the milk was imported from the U.S. when I lived there. But we did have a lot of coconut trees just like Thailand. I ate a crap load of coconuts along with coconut milk and water. I know for a fact a lot of Thai cuisine incorporates a lot of coconut milk in their curries. Southeast Asia is abundant with fruits as well.

I guess my main point is that if you do not have access to good sources of dairy don't eat them. But there are fruits and vegetables that are indigenous to the area which you should be able to pick up fresh at local markets. Fresh fish, duck, chicken, lamb, pork would probably be your go to meats in Thailand. Stick to whole foods, don't consume gluten, and avoid vegetable oils and you are 90% there.

Last edited by Balance; 06-06-2011 at 08:40 PM.

"If man made it, don't eat it" - Jack Lallane

People say I am on a "crazy" diet. What is so crazy about eating veggies, fruits, seafood and organ meats? Just because I don't eat whole wheat and processed food doesn't make my diet "crazy". Maybe everyone else with a SAD are the "crazy" ones for putting that junk in their system.

Difficult to post a response to these varied answers... however I will have a go:

Barefoot Paul - it's not just milk I'm worried about, but all meats, fish and dairy. All are farmed, battery, icky sources, here. No regulation on what goes in, what gets sprayed, even produced labelled as 'organic' can be pretty dubious. No standards are enforced. If it were as simple as just 'don't eat milk' I wouldn't be worried, as I'm not much of a milk drinker anyways.

Hedonist - thanks for the reply. I do have Thailand listed as my location... do you mean where in Thailand?

Mwok86 - as I am not Thai therefore I cannot buy land in Thailand. And, if you'd read my post properly, you would notice that I did say: "nor can I raise the animals myself".

Balance - surely tonnes of fruit isn't Primal...? I don't want to be fruitarian, LOL. I'm not a big fruit eater, though I do enjoy the occasional banana and mango from my trees... it's not my ideal food. Coconuts, yes.

Diana Renata - Yeah, I love eating bugs! LOL The traditional diet would be more Primal... however, more and more and more and MORE! of the local fare is nothing more than rice and MSG/salt/sugar laden curries and soups, fast food, and western snacks. You're never more than a few hundred yards from a 7-11. Pork fat has been replaced by vegetables oils, and when I ask if I can still get Pork fat at the local market, I am looked at as though I am quite mad!

"Why you want fat of pig? Fat no good! You fat. Vegetable oil good!"

Did I mention the MSG??? Sugar in rice. Sugar in fruit juice. Sugar in EVERYTHING?!?

Difficult to post a response to these varied answers... however I will have a go:

Barefoot Paul - it's not just milk I'm worried about, but all meats, fish and dairy. All are farmed, battery, icky sources, here. No regulation on what goes in, what gets sprayed, even produced labelled as 'organic' can be pretty dubious. No standards are enforced. If it were as simple as just 'don't eat milk' I wouldn't be worried, as I'm not much of a milk drinker anyways.

Hedonist - thanks for the reply. I do have Thailand listed as my location... do you mean where in Thailand?

Mwok86 - as I am not Thai therefore I cannot buy land in Thailand. And, if you'd read my post properly, you would notice that I did say:
"nor can I raise the animals myself".

Balance - surely tonnes of fruit isn't Primal...? I don't want to be fruitarian, LOL. I'm not a bit fruit eater, though I do enjoy the occasional banana and mango from my trees... it's not my ideal food. Coconuts, yes.

Diana Renata - Yeah, I love eating bugs! LOL The traditional diet would be more Primal... however, more and more and more and MORE! of the local fare is nothing more than rice and MSG/salt/sugar laden curries and soups, fast food, and western snacks. You're never more than a few hundred yards from a 7-11. Pork fat has been replaced by vegetables oils, and when I ask if I can still get Pork fat at the local market, I am looked at as though I am quite mad!

"Why you want fat of pig? Fat no good! You fat. Vegetable oil good!"

Did I mention the MSG??? Sugar in rice. Sugar in fruit juice. Sugar in EVERYTHING?!?